Have you ever wondered why Tenney existed, and Gabriela and Z seemed so rushed? Look no further: today, I felt like explaining to you guys: THE GREAT CONTEMPORARY CHARACTER CONSPIRACY OF 2017!

We start in 2015. The radio's playing nothing but the whip and nae-nae song and the cheerleader song, Miraculous Ladybug and Maryellen are about to come out and Grace is the Girl of the Year.

Right now, American Girl is trying to come up with their 2017 Girl of the Year. One person comes up with their GREAT IDEA. This is what I imagine the conversation was like:

"My daughter's going to the Taylor Swift concert tonight!"

"Ooh, how about we make a doll like Taylor Swift?"

"Her name can be Tenney from Tennesee!"

"And she can have a boy doll named Logan in her collection, too!"

"We're good! Yay!"

Fast forward to Halloween 2015. They trademark 'Tenney Grant'. Everything's good.

It's now February 2016. Lea's now the Girl of the Year, and Melody is about to release. She's being revealed on CBS This Morning. Everything's good- until they highlight that there's no African American Girl of the Year dolls.

The American Girl design team has a collective "Oh dear" moment.

"QUICK! Retire #46! Redress her! Reuse everything we can!"

"But what about Tenney?"

"Eh, we'll release her separately a month later, and then we'll release Z two months later. We're good!"

And this, my friends, is why the Contemporary Characters exist. Or existed, since they're all retired now.